New Franciscan Provincial

Fr. Aidan McGrath, OFM with John Kealy OFM at the Provincial Chapter

The Irish Franciscans gathered in Provincial Chapter at the Franciscan College, Gormanston, have elected Fr. Aidan McGrath OFM as their Provincial Minister. Fr. Aidan will serve for a term of six years.

A native of Banbridge, Co. Down, he was born in 1954. He entered the Franciscan Novitiate in Killarney in September 1972 and made he First Profession the following year. He then studied in University College Galway and the Gregorian University Rome and was ordained to the Priesthood in 1980.

Fr. Aidan completed a Doctorate in Canon Law at the Gregorianum and served in different capacities within the Irish Province and the Church in Ireland.

Up to his election he had been General Secretary of the Franciscan Order residing in the General Curia in Rome.

The 80 friars in Chapter also elected Fr. Joe Condren, OFM, as Vicar Provincial. A Dublin native, Fr. Joe in recent years was part of the Franciscan presence in Zimbabwe.

We ask for your prayers for Frs. Aidan and Joe as they take up this ministry among and for their brothers. May the Spirit of the Lord and the intercession of St. Francis be their support.